“Murder at Sleepy Lagoon does more than sharpen the edges of a well-worn story. . . . It also serves as a superb case study of the myriad factors that have influenced the course of race relations in the United States. . . . Pagan has constructed an impressive study of modern American race relations that should resonate beyond the fields of Los Angeles and Mexican American history.” — Pacific Historical Review
“Smart, insightful and evocative.” — Australasian Journal of American Studies
“Pagan does a wonderful job of making the 1940s come alive, while providing the kind of research base that we would expect from any good social history. The book deserves a wide readership.” — American Historical Review
“[A] masterful volume. . . . One of the most comprehensive and authoritative accounts of both the Sleepy Lagoon murder and the subsequent trials and of the Zoot Suits riots of the early 1940s. . . . Succeeds admirably.” — Latin Americanist
“A fine addition to western and Chicana/o historiography. The varied and unique sources on which this book is based ensure that it will be a standard by which to judge any other studies on this subject.” — Western Historical Quarterly
“A brilliant and ultimately persuasive effort to explain the function of music and fashion in shaping how Americans see themselves, then and now. . . . Pagán has made an important and illuminating contribution to [the] body of [Chicano] scholarship.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Full of flavor. . . . Pagán’s book . . . provides insight into a time many overlook. You don’t have to be Mexican, or Latino, or even a Californian to care about this story.” — Hispanic
“This is a vital and pathbreaking book. . . . Obregón Pagán tells a good story, providing perhaps the best extant discussion of the facts underlying the Sleepy Lagoon murder. His scholarship is nuanced and careful.” — Journal of American History
“This is a superior work. Pagán succeeds in using the Zoot Suit Riot as a lens by which to illuminate a forgotten slice of American culture and race relations during the 1940s. This is an important contribution to our understanding of race relations in WWII America.” — David Montejano, University of California, Berkeley
